Selling or leasing in WA means at least two RCDs covering all socket outlet and lighting final subcircuits, and mains-powered smoke alarms. We check what is actually there, fix what is missing, and certify the work before you list, not in the week before settlement.
Why It Matters
Before a residential property is sold, leased or made available for hire in Western Australia, two things have to be in place: at least two RCDs covering all socket outlet and lighting final subcircuits, and mains-powered smoke alarms. Both apply regardless of the age of the house, and neither is waived because the property is old. The alarms have to be permanently connected to the 240V supply wherever mains power is available; a sealed, non-removable 10-year battery alarm is only permitted where there is no hidden space to run the wiring and no suitable alternative location, typically a concrete ceiling.
Neither can safely be assumed from a glance at the board. RCDs can fail or drift out of specification, so an RCD being there doesn't mean it's protecting anything. A trip-time test is what confirms it. Smoke alarms carry a ten-year replacement life under AS 3786 that runs from the date on the alarm, not from the last time it beeped, so an installation that looks compliant can still be non-compliant. The reason to check before listing is simple arithmetic: anything that needs doing is cheaper and calmer with weeks in hand than in the days before settlement.
What’s Included
The check and the remedial work in one visit wherever possible:
Why Dextel
Licensed Electrical Contractor EC12377 | Security Agent SA54405. $10 million public liability insurance.
Licensed since 1995, which counts when the paperwork has to stand up at settlement.
An Electrical Safety Certificate is issued for the work, which is what agents and property managers ask for.
Replies come the same day, and the inspection is booked around jobs already running.
The Document
The Electrical Safety Certificate is an approved Building and Energy form, issued under regulation 52B of the Electricity (Licensing) Regulations 1991. That regulation requires the certificate to be provided to the person the work was carried out for within 28 days of the work being completed. Where nothing needs replacing, it is issued as an inspection only: the inspection and what it found, with no installation work behind it.
Three questions on that form decide whether a property is ready to sell or lease:
Note what the first two of those do. A “no” isn't left blank. It becomes a written list of which circuits are unprotected and what alarms are actually there, signed by the contractor. That is the reason to find out before a settlement date is in the diary rather than after it.
Prices
Prices include GST and are for a standard home in the Perth metro area. A replaced smoke alarm goes in the same position on the existing mains wiring; a new position assumes access through the roof space. RCD prices assume the switchboard is in good condition and has room. Anything else is quoted after a look. See our terms →
Common Questions
At least two RCDs covering all socket outlet and lighting final subcircuits, and mains-powered smoke alarms complying with AS 3786 that are under ten years old. It applies at sale, at lease, and where a property is made available for hire, regardless of how old the house is. Where running the wiring really is impractical (no hidden space and no suitable alternative location), a sealed, non-removable 10-year battery alarm is accepted instead.
Not necessarily, and there are two separate ways it falls short. The first is coverage: two RCDs sitting in the board does not mean everything that should be behind one actually is. It's common to find some circuits protected and others, like a lighting circuit or a sub-circuit added later, running straight off the main switch. The certificate asks whether all the socket outlet and lighting final subcircuits are protected, and if not, which ones are not, so partial coverage has to be written down rather than glossed over. The second is condition: RCDs can fail or drift out of specification with age, so one that is fitted is not necessarily one that would trip in time. A trip-time test is what settles that. We check both: passing one and failing the other still fails.
That happens on original boards, where there's often no room and no modern earthing to work with. The answer then is a switchboard upgrade rather than an add-on. We will tell you which of the two you are facing before you commit to anything.
Before you list, not after you have a buyer. Anything that turns out to need doing is cheaper and far less stressful with weeks in hand than in the few days before settlement, when everyone is already committed to a date.
Yes. The requirement applies at lease as well as at sale, and it applies each time the property is made available, so check between tenancies rather than when a new one starts.
Regulation 52B requires it within 28 days of the work being completed. In practice we issue it once the inspection is done and anything that needed putting right has been, so you are not waiting on it while a settlement date approaches.
Yes, an Electrical Safety Certificate for the work carried out. That is the document a settlement agent or property manager will ask you to produce.
Where We Work
Dextel is based in Spearwood and works across Perth metro. Where we work →
Most service work needs nothing up front: jobs under $1,000 carry no deposit, and quoted work above that takes a 20% deposit on acceptance, as set out in our terms →
Working to a settlement date? Call and I will tell you what fits before it, usually within the day.